Asked to explain why they hate Jews, anti-Semites contradict themselves. Jews are always showing off; they are hermetic and secretive. They will not assimilate; they assimilate only too well. They are too religious; they are too materialistic, and a threat to religion. They are uncultured; they have too much culture. They avoid manual work; they work too hard. They are miserly; they are ostentatious spenders. They are inveterate capitalists; they are born Communists. And so on.

Asked to explain why they hate Jews, anti-Semites contradict themselves. Jews are always showing off; they are hermetic and secretive. They will not assimilate; they assimilate only too well. They are too religious; they are too materialistic, and a threat to religion. They are uncultured; they have too much culture. They avoid manual work; they work too hard. They are miserly; they are ostentatious spenders. They are inveterate capitalists; they are born Communists. And so on.

Asked to explain why they hate Jews, anti-Semites contradict themselves. Jews are always showing off; they are hermetic and secretive. They will not assimilate; they assimilate only too well. They are too religious; they are too materialistic, and a threat to religion. They are uncultured; they have too much culture. They avoid manual work; they work too hard. They are miserly; they are ostentatious spenders. They are inveterate capitalists; they are born Communists. And so on.

Asked to explain why they hate Jews, anti-Semites contradict themselves. Jews are always showing off; they are hermetic and secretive. They will not assimilate; they assimilate only too well. They are too religious; they are too materialistic, and a threat to religion. They are uncultured; they have too much culture. They avoid manual work; they work too hard. They are miserly; they are ostentatious spenders. They are inveterate capitalists; they are born Communists. And so on.

With the subtle message that Trump is a tub of greasy lard. I love it!

"We survivors did not seek death. We did not take to the streets when our Jewish friends were taken away. We didn’t raise an outcry until we ourselves were being annihilated. We preferred to remain alive, with the flimsy though accurate excuse that our death would not have helped. We are guilty of being alive."

Karl Jaspers (1883–1968), at the re-opening of Heidelberg University, 1945

Another gem! How much can Trump's people rationalize? Is there NO limit to the crudity he can get away with? Apparently not.

"We survivors did not seek death. We did not take to the streets when our Jewish friends were taken away. We didn’t raise an outcry until we ourselves were being annihilated. We preferred to remain alive, with the flimsy though accurate excuse that our death would not have helped. We are guilty of being alive."

Karl Jaspers (1883–1968), at the re-opening of Heidelberg University, 1945

The triggered outbursts in response to the investigation of apparently fraudulent activities by the Trump Foundation - like "it paid out more than it took in" and that Trump (or his organization) pumped money into it - seem rather fishy to me. Any nonprofit/financial/tax experts around to edumacate me?

Asked to explain why they hate Jews, anti-Semites contradict themselves. Jews are always showing off; they are hermetic and secretive. They will not assimilate; they assimilate only too well. They are too religious; they are too materialistic, and a threat to religion. They are uncultured; they have too much culture. They avoid manual work; they work too hard. They are miserly; they are ostentatious spenders. They are inveterate capitalists; they are born Communists. And so on.

TJrandom wrote:I hear that a certain NK general got himself in trouble - for saluting a foreign dictator.

That’s why his people love him.

Asked to explain why they hate Jews, anti-Semites contradict themselves. Jews are always showing off; they are hermetic and secretive. They will not assimilate; they assimilate only too well. They are too religious; they are too materialistic, and a threat to religion. They are uncultured; they have too much culture. They avoid manual work; they work too hard. They are miserly; they are ostentatious spenders. They are inveterate capitalists; they are born Communists. And so on.

Well, this guy is a religious nut. We all know that. So, St. Paul gave some cautious advice to his small group of followers, not to take on a brutal dictatorship, and of course he wrote it so that the authorities who would hear about it couldn't object. Smart move, but not the highest form of morality. And ever since, fundamentalist Christians have clung to this sacred "duty" to obey brutal dictators. The entanglement of the Bible with the law was painfully undone by the framers of the US Constitution, and is now being reinstated. Makes me glad I'm old and won't have to see their goal achieved.

"We survivors did not seek death. We did not take to the streets when our Jewish friends were taken away. We didn’t raise an outcry until we ourselves were being annihilated. We preferred to remain alive, with the flimsy though accurate excuse that our death would not have helped. We are guilty of being alive."

Karl Jaspers (1883–1968), at the re-opening of Heidelberg University, 1945

Tom Engelhardt wrote:
The history of greed in our time has yet to be written, but what a story it will someday make. In it, the greed of those geopolitical dreamers will intersect with the greed of an ever wealthier, ever more gilded 1 percent, of the billionaires who were preparing to swallow whole the political system of that last superpower and grab so much of the wealth of the planet, leaving so little for others.

Whether you’re talking about the urge to control the planet militarily or financially, what took place in these years could, in the end, result in ruin of a historic kind. To use a favored phrase from the Bush years, one of these days we may be facing little short of “regime change” on a planetary scale. And what a piece of shock and awe that’s likely to prove to be.

All of us, of course, now live on the planet Bush’s boys tried to swallow whole. They left us in a world of infinite war, infinite harm, and in Donald Trump’s America where cluelessness has been raised to a new power.

"We survivors did not seek death. We did not take to the streets when our Jewish friends were taken away. We didn’t raise an outcry until we ourselves were being annihilated. We preferred to remain alive, with the flimsy though accurate excuse that our death would not have helped. We are guilty of being alive."

Karl Jaspers (1883–1968), at the re-opening of Heidelberg University, 1945

More from my morning news feed: The Great Equivocator speaks (Putin's a killer, but we've got a lot of killers here....good people on both sides in Charlottesville, etc.)

Donald J. Trump wrote: But no regime has oppressed its own citizens more totally or brutally than the cruel dictatorship in North Korea. (State of the Union Message, January 2018)

Donald J. Trump wrote: ...a lot of other people have done some really bad things. I mean, I could go through a lot of nations where a lot of bad things were done... (Interview with Fox News, June 2018)

Donald J. Trump wrote: He's got a great personality. He's a funny guy, he's very smart, he's a great negotiator. He loves his people, not that I'm surprised by that... (June 2018)

"We survivors did not seek death. We did not take to the streets when our Jewish friends were taken away. We didn’t raise an outcry until we ourselves were being annihilated. We preferred to remain alive, with the flimsy though accurate excuse that our death would not have helped. We are guilty of being alive."

Karl Jaspers (1883–1968), at the re-opening of Heidelberg University, 1945

I end my morning screeds with a question: How and when did we win the war in Afghanistan? I ask because the last time I remember seeing a news report from there, Trump had, in a move of sheer genius, sent more American soldiers in that direction. So, it must have worked, and now all those soldiers are back home, right? Just shows you how the Fake News refuses to give Trump credit for anything.

"We survivors did not seek death. We did not take to the streets when our Jewish friends were taken away. We didn’t raise an outcry until we ourselves were being annihilated. We preferred to remain alive, with the flimsy though accurate excuse that our death would not have helped. We are guilty of being alive."

Karl Jaspers (1883–1968), at the re-opening of Heidelberg University, 1945

Well, one PS this morning. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that American farmers are in terrible shape, and many of them are about to go under. The US share of the grain market has shrunk, and prices are way below what American farmers can produce food for. Well, that great old Free Market will take care of that problem, forcing those overpaid American workers to compete with the sweat of exploited peasants all over the world. But maybe Trump will listen to American farmers and impose tariffs, so the whole country can pay more for food. The man's a genius, after all; he's told us so many times.

Meanwhile, both China and Canada (and probably the EU as well) are preparing a counterblast to the tariffs Trump has announced and will probably be implementing as of today. Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a rough ride.

"We survivors did not seek death. We did not take to the streets when our Jewish friends were taken away. We didn’t raise an outcry until we ourselves were being annihilated. We preferred to remain alive, with the flimsy though accurate excuse that our death would not have helped. We are guilty of being alive."

Karl Jaspers (1883–1968), at the re-opening of Heidelberg University, 1945

Well, this guy is a religious nut. We all know that. So, St. Paul gave some cautious advice to his small group of followers, not to take on a brutal dictatorship, and of course he wrote it so that the authorities who would hear about it couldn't object. Smart move, but not the highest form of morality. And ever since, fundamentalist Christians have clung to this sacred "duty" to obey brutal dictators. The entanglement of the Bible with the law was painfully undone by the framers of the US Constitution, and is now being reinstated. Makes me glad I'm old and won't have to see their goal achieved.

So, why does Trump have such a following among evangelicals? The answer seems clear to me, as we keep hearing more and more about his diplomatic disasters that, according to the commentators, are destroying the World Order that the US set up after World War II. They are correct in what they say, and that's why evangelicals love him. The evangelicals embrace a cockamamie eschatology that embroiders a whole paranoid fantasy on the already-paranoid fantasies in the Books of Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation. (These are the only books of the Bible that are truly alive for evangelicals. The rest, as far as you could learn from listening to their sermons, is just filler.) The New World Order is a shibboleth for them; it's ominous to them that the US dollar bill has "Novus Ordo Seclorum" written on it. Their highest desire is precisely to DESTROY that order, and it looks as if they are about to get their wish. I don't think they are going to like the consequences if Trump succeeds, but then they are strange people, and it's hard to say what will pleased them.

"We survivors did not seek death. We did not take to the streets when our Jewish friends were taken away. We didn’t raise an outcry until we ourselves were being annihilated. We preferred to remain alive, with the flimsy though accurate excuse that our death would not have helped. We are guilty of being alive."

Karl Jaspers (1883–1968), at the re-opening of Heidelberg University, 1945

scrmbldggs wrote:Upton, how big did that adorable puppy get? Did it develop a cask around its neck?

That puppy was my beloved dog Sobaka (1968--1975). She was, like all large dogs, a major liability with the neighbors, but I loved her anyway. But she wasn't large, as Saint Bernards go, only about 55 kg. (I had a Springer Spaniel named Oliver from the mid-80s to mid-90s who weighed about 40 kg in maturity. He attracted attention wherever he went.) Saint Bernards don't typically live very long. I didn't know that until after she died. I looked for a cask, but never found one that seemed to fit her very well.

"We survivors did not seek death. We did not take to the streets when our Jewish friends were taken away. We didn’t raise an outcry until we ourselves were being annihilated. We preferred to remain alive, with the flimsy though accurate excuse that our death would not have helped. We are guilty of being alive."

Karl Jaspers (1883–1968), at the re-opening of Heidelberg University, 1945

Ho hum, so Trump is again ranting about Comey. These guys never understand where their PRESENT danger is. He should be much more worried about Mueller. But that's not the Republican style. They are still running against Obama and the Clintons. Pathetic!

"We survivors did not seek death. We did not take to the streets when our Jewish friends were taken away. We didn’t raise an outcry until we ourselves were being annihilated. We preferred to remain alive, with the flimsy though accurate excuse that our death would not have helped. We are guilty of being alive."

Karl Jaspers (1883–1968), at the re-opening of Heidelberg University, 1945

..."The harm in this case is harm to the administration of justice and harm to the integrity of the court's system," Berman Jackson told Manafort in court....

...Prosecutors argued that Manafort is a "danger to the community" and that he committed a crime while out on release, obstruction of justice. They said he carried out a "sustained campaign of over five weeks" using different phones and apps to try to mold testimony of witnesses....

...Cohen has expressed anger with the treatment he has gotten from the President, who has minimized his relationship with Cohen, and comments from the President's lawyer Rudy Giuliani, the source said. The treatment has left him feeling isolated and more open to cooperating, the source said....

You don't just tell people this unless you want it to get leaked, so he's probably putting out feelers to Trump, hoping he'll get some kind of sign that he'll be looked after by the pardoner-in-chief.

I wonder if Destiny Pictures, which is a real company that's denying being the culprit who produced that hilarious propaganda clip, will eventually join those who're suing. If the amateurs won't make it clear that it's just the usual crap they made up...

..."The harm in this case is harm to the administration of justice and harm to the integrity of the court's system," Berman Jackson told Manafort in court....

...Prosecutors argued that Manafort is a "danger to the community" and that he committed a crime while out on release, obstruction of justice. They said he carried out a "sustained campaign of over five weeks" using different phones and apps to try to mold testimony of witnesses....

...Cohen has expressed anger with the treatment he has gotten from the President, who has minimized his relationship with Cohen, and comments from the President's lawyer Rudy Giuliani, the source said. The treatment has left him feeling isolated and more open to cooperating, the source said....

You don't just tell people this unless you want it to get leaked, so he's probably putting out feelers to Trump, hoping he'll get some kind of sign that he'll be looked after by the pardoner-in-chief.

"Only the best people...." Good point you make that Cohen is trying to send Trump a signal. Would Trump dare to pardon this guy before trial? I doubt if he would dare after all the evidence against Cohen is made public.

"We survivors did not seek death. We did not take to the streets when our Jewish friends were taken away. We didn’t raise an outcry until we ourselves were being annihilated. We preferred to remain alive, with the flimsy though accurate excuse that our death would not have helped. We are guilty of being alive."

Karl Jaspers (1883–1968), at the re-opening of Heidelberg University, 1945

Nah, with his early pardons he established the government can't be trusted and neither he nor his guys did anything wrong. They are unfairly persecuted. But from now on, he'll be the judge about everything and of everyone. Only he can do it.

Asked to explain why they hate Jews, anti-Semites contradict themselves. Jews are always showing off; they are hermetic and secretive. They will not assimilate; they assimilate only too well. They are too religious; they are too materialistic, and a threat to religion. They are uncultured; they have too much culture. They avoid manual work; they work too hard. They are miserly; they are ostentatious spenders. They are inveterate capitalists; they are born Communists. And so on.

Trump will ask athletes who kneel during anthem to recommend people for pardoning

..."What I'm going to do is, I'm going to say to them instead of talk ... I am going to ask all of those people to recommend to me -- because that's what they're protesting -- people that they think were unfairly treated by the justice system," Trump said. "And I understand that."...

Because to Trump, "shooting unarmed blacks" and "people they think were unfairly treated by the justice system" is the same thing. In other words, pardoning some people will make up for killing others.

...Trump said on Friday that he hasn't received any pardon suggestions from NFL players, despite offering to meet with those who kneel during the national anthem so they can recommend possible candidates for clemency.

Asked by "Fox & Friends" co-host Steve Doocy in an interview whether he had heard from professional athletes about potential pardons, Trump replied that he hadn't.

"No, I haven't. They are all saying it has nothing to do with the flag. It’s the way we’ve been treated," he said, referring to the national anthem protests. "In the meantime, they’re making $15 million a year."...

Now he's equating the living, breathing NFL players with the unarmed black people who have been shot by the police.

...”They’re saying people are aggrieved. Okay. Let me know about it. I’ll look at it. If they’re aggrieved, I’ll pardon them. I’ll get them out,” Trump said during an impromptu interview with Fox & Friends’ Steve Doocy. “Maybe they’ve called the staff. But I have not personally heard from one. Because I don’t know if it’s a real issue. I don’t think it’s a real issue.”...

Thanks for the update on the "kneelers". I hadn't followed the story lately. Not surprised that Steve Douchebag is playing along with this idiotic charade, totally oblivious of what is really being protested against.

In other news, this guy Trump doesn't know any more, this Cohen fellow, just got some very bad news. The FBI managed to piece together a whole bunch of documents he had shredded, and they've got one of his smart phones with some 300+MB of encrypted messages on it. And, for sure, they WILL be able to get it decrypted. Right now, Trump is calling Cohen a "good person." Probably signaling intent to pardon. But maybe not. If Cohen does flip, he'll immediately be merely an opportunistic liar. That will be one of the rare claims Trump will make that will actually be true.

"We survivors did not seek death. We did not take to the streets when our Jewish friends were taken away. We didn’t raise an outcry until we ourselves were being annihilated. We preferred to remain alive, with the flimsy though accurate excuse that our death would not have helped. We are guilty of being alive."

Karl Jaspers (1883–1968), at the re-opening of Heidelberg University, 1945

What a quandary to be in! One doesn't know what to protest next. Probably the greatest abomination is the forcible separation of children of asylum seekers from their parents. It's particularly obnoxious because Trump stubbornly lies about it and claims the Democrats passed a law that mandates doing this. They didn't, of course, and they haven't had the ability to pass ANY laws since 2010. I have been embarrassed to be an American since the 2016 election, but now I'm deeply ashamed. Unless we atone for this crime against humanity by putting the people responsible in prison for the rest of their lives, I don't see how we can live this down. By comparison, helping Klaus Barbie to escape was a misdemeanor.

Well, we knew Trump was a megalomaniac. And now he openly says he wants Americans to worship him the way North Koreans worship Kim. This is a cult of personality that even Stalin never dreamed of.

But I continue to think the "Dr. Strangelove" scenario is the greatest danger, not just to the US, but to the whole human race. If the United States goes into the dustbin of history (which it richly deserves to do at this point), at least we might try to insure the survival of more decent nations. That won't happen if some American General Jack D. Ripper, far down the chain of command, launches a nuclear attack.

"We survivors did not seek death. We did not take to the streets when our Jewish friends were taken away. We didn’t raise an outcry until we ourselves were being annihilated. We preferred to remain alive, with the flimsy though accurate excuse that our death would not have helped. We are guilty of being alive."

Karl Jaspers (1883–1968), at the re-opening of Heidelberg University, 1945

.﻿------some comments from the lawn presser.....------------He is going to go down as one of our greatest Presidents. #MAGA﻿--------Dear media, You do realize that we are in early stages of one of the most important geopolitical negotiations in our history. A chance to encourage a despotic regime to open up, modernize and demilitarize. At this stage the DPRK is watching everything that Pres. Trump says about this. One wrong word could send them back behind their guns. Your constant nana nana boo boo is not helpful. -------------------Like a bunch of campus SJWs ...﻿------Well said. We ain't electing the Pope! He is the POTUS. The hardest working president ever. The guy doesn't sleep and is fulfilling campaign promises in record pace too MAGA!﻿ ---------Only thing I get out of this is .. President Donald J Trump is awesome ...
And the fake media act like little brats-----Trump is kryptonite to the Fake News Media. Love it !!! Long live King Trump !!!﻿-------------LOL Schooled the #scumbagmedia﻿--Love it...----------.better than the NBA finals and more entertaining by the minute!!---------STOP! Mr President, please stop. I can't take all this winning!! lol MAGA2020﻿--------------What a boss. Taking care of business!﻿----------BOSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Enough Said.﻿ --------------Just a reminder that Noam Chomsky, the left's hero, called the person who is finally solving the NK problem "a clown."﻿

Interesting to see how Woo analyses politics. Still unhinged...when there is so much on the record they could make contact with.................

Real Name: bobbo the existential pragmatic evangelical anti-theist and Class Warrior.
Asking: What is the most good for the most people?
Sample Issue: Should the Feds provide all babies with free diapers?

more--------Wow, this guy is something else. A phenomenon. Truly impressive President. Ill be voting for him in 2020﻿--------President Donald J Trump a historic badass-----Trump's temperament...God Emperor level.﻿---------------- Only trump can handle the ROCKET MAN. CNN stay hating on the Trumpster. Trump taking world peace to another level.﻿---------Wow I despise trump for his hate against immigrants but this is just amazing he is the first person to even consider this- ---Crazy how trump in 1.5 years has done more for this situation then what Obama did in 8 years.﻿-------Trump has done more for America than Obama has I never thought I would say.﻿--------------I don’t like trump at all but I give him props and he’s doing something great-------I am not even an American but America you ought need to respect your President, he has done things which no other President of yours could. Wish we have person like him﻿